


Don’t Leave

by iloveyou_iknow (llostt_in_ttranslationn)



Series: i’d die trying to let you live [8]
Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, except the only adventure is the emotional rollercoaster, henelope adventures continued, only a little sorry about it being sad, sorry not sorry about that, this has more hosie friendship than henelope tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 19:50:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20069626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llostt_in_ttranslationn/pseuds/iloveyou_iknow
Summary: Lizzie never really thought she’d be sad if something bad ever happened to Penelope Park of all people, but maybe she kind of is. Just a little.





	Don’t Leave

**Author's Note:**

> Hehe I cried a little tiny bit while writing this part lol. Also I’ve noticed I use italics way too much. This part is Hosie friendship heavy. It’s kinda sad but there will be more to come so don’t fret too hard about it.

“Hope?”

Hope blinks to focus her vision on whoever is speaking, a little to numb to find enough energy to care about her name being said like that, which is probably the first clue that she’s not okay.

“What are we going to do?” Hope asks quietly. “What if she doesn’t wake up, Liz? I can’t— She’s my best friend...”

Lizzie frowns from her place at Hope’s side, watching her girlfriend clutch onto Penelope’s hand as they sit by the green eyed witch’s bedside in the school’s infirmary. She’s never seen Hope look so broken and defeated. And that thought only reminds her of how many other people Hope has lost in her nineteen years of life.

Josie sits silently on the other side of Penelope’s bed, just as cloudy minded as Hope and likely completely unaware of the conversation happening across from her. Her eyes are open, but blank.

“She’ll wake up,” Lizzie tries to assure them.

“You can’t know that!” A third voice joins the conversation.

Jed, kneeling next to Josie looks up at the blonde, pushing himself up to fall back into the chair behind him. He’d been leaning with his elbows on the bed, hands clasped together, mumbling prayers for what seems like hours (it probably has been). Lizzie hadn’t known he was religious, but apparently both the Park cousins are. She never would’ve guessed that the girl she used to call _Satan _would believe in God.

The trio found him after Penelope collapsed when they completed the binding ceremony, and none of them have left the room since they got there.

“She’s _Penelope Park_,” Lizzie says. “She’d never go out like this.

Josie swallows harshly, clearly trying to hold in tears, and Lizzie struggles to figure out what her sister is thinking.

It hits her then.

Two years ago.

Two years ago, the twins siphoned the life out of their biological mother, _intentionally_.

If Penelope dies from the twins _accidentally_ draining the magic out of her, Lizzie knows Josie will never forgive herself.

Not again. Not if she loses two people she loved in essentially the same way.

“I bet she knew this could happen,” Hope murmurs. “She was so anxious when she woke me up. I could tell that something was off with her, but I assumed she was just like, nervous to see Josie again, or something. But it makes sense. She’s said before that she’d die to let you guys live.”

Josie stands up abruptly, nearly knocking over her chair in the process. The other (conscious) occupants of the room all shift their attention to her quickly.

“I can’t be here right now,” Is all she says before hurrying out of the room.

“Should one of us go after her?” Jed implores.

Hope just shakes her head. “She needs time.”

Indeed, Josie does. She isn’t certain as to where her destination is, but it makes sense when she ends up in front of a familiar door.

She’d been adamant about the fact that no one be settled into the dorm that once belonged to Penelope, and Alaric had smartly agreed to keep the room vacant, even for two whole years. Josie doesn’t know what she would’ve done if he hadn’t. 

_Probably something involving fire._

Josie still comes here occasionally. It hurts, but sometimes she pretends she can still smell Penelope’s perfume on the pillows if she closes her eyes tight enough, and that makes it a little better.

_I hope I die if she does_, Josie thinks to herself bitterly as she collapses onto the bed.

_It wouldn’t be fair if she died for me._

She lets out a heavy sob into the pillow.

_I was so cold to her earlier. What if she dies thinking I hate her?_ Josie worries to herself. _I’ll never forgive myself._

Josie knows that Penelope wouldn’t want her to blame herself, but how could Josie not? She always thought Penelope was the selfish one, but maybe she was always the one who was truly selfless all along.

_I need her to be okay._

She doesn’t know how long she’s been silently crying, but suddenly the door to the room is swinging open slowly.

“I thought I mind find you in here.”

Hope tentatively walks over to the bed, unsure if she’s given Josie enough time to herself before going after her.

Instead of going off on Hope and sending her away, Josie just scoots over on the bed, leaving room for Hope to join her.

“I should probably tell you something,” Hope says softly.

Josie looks up, not bothering to wipe the tears (and probably snot, if she’s honest) off of her face. Hope reaches out and delicately swipes her thumbs under Josie’s eyes in an attempt to help the situation. Josie nearly begins crying again at the softness of Hope’s touch.

“Today wasn’t the first time that Penelope has been back at Salvatore.”

Josie just blinks at Hope. She’d had her suspicions, sure, but she really thought Hope or Jed would have told her if it had happened. She can’t bring herself to be mad at the other girl at the moment, though.

“The first time was a few months after she left. Now, don’t freak out, but she was pretty much half-dead when she showed up in my room, with some curse that made it so we couldn’t use magic to heal her, which is why we can’t do it now, either. I helped her, because I wasn’t about to have her death on my hands. And I wanted to tell you, but she asked me not to. It happened a couple more times, and even Lizzie found out at one point. That one time I gave you a note from her, she gave it to me in person. And when I took your blood, it wasn’t for a test your dad wanted to run. It was for Penelope and her spell. And uh, I was in that closet because Penelope dragged me in there when I was on my way to spill everything to you.”

Josie sighs. “I guess I understand. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if I saw her again and she left, _again_.“

Hope nods. “She kept saying the same thing. She wanted to come back and be able to stay for good. I’m sure she has some big plans to woo you back into her arms.”

They share a quiet chuckle.

“Actually,” Hope bites her lip in contemplation. “Maybe she doesn’t. I feel like she might have wanted to just lay all her cards on the table and put the ball in your court. I don’t think she would try and make you hers again without you being explicitly sure.”

“Yeah,” Josie gives a watery smile. “That sounds like my Penelope.”

She doesn’t bother to correct her possessiveness, or even show any embarrassment over it. Penelope will always be _hers_. Even if there’s never anything between them ever again.

“She really loves you, Jo. I’m not sure she’d want me to tel you this, but at one point she told me that her home was in your arms and that she’d only come back and see you again if she knew she could stay there forever, emphasizing that it was only something she would want if that’s what you wanted, of course.”

“I _hate_ her, Hope.”

Hope wraps an arm around Josie’s shoulders. “No, Josie. You don’t, and you know that. You still love her, and you hate that you can’t hate her for breaking your heart.”

Josie just nods. “I’d do anything to be able to have forever to forgive her.”

“I know, honey,” Hope says softly. “Me too. It’s weird, y’know. Because like, you and MG are my friends, of course, and I love you guys and Lizzie, but I’ve never had anyone like Penelope in my life. Somehow she really weaseled her way into my heart.”

Josie smiles nostalgically. “She’s like that, yeah. Seems like the type to hate, but really there’s no way not to love her.”

“She just _gets_ me,” Hope tells Josie, desperate for someone to understand the way she feels right now, and knowing that if it will be anyone, it’ll be Josie. “I don’t know how. But she _cares_. And no one ever really did that before. I don’t know what I’d do without her little visits where she ended up giving me life lessons even as she bled all over mine or Lizzie’s sheets. I’ve been looking forward to having her around all the time for so long now. She _can’t_ just die on us, Josie.”

Josie just hums her agreement, holding Hope tighter.

They sit in silence for a long while, with nothing much else to say. They feel the same need for Penelope to be okay, and that’s the only thing that truly matters at the moment.

“Guys!” The door to the room slams open.

Lizzie is standing there with wide eyes, clearly having news on Penelope’s status to share.

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t hate me for the ending lol. I have the next part finished so yell at me in the comments or on twitter @ _iloveyou_iknow about when I should post it. If I get a good enough reason maybe I can be convinced to do it later today ;)


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